For the next hour, the trio worked through the PDF. The exercises were repetitive, but slowly, the logic began to click in Elias's mind. He stopped seeing the structures as riddles and started seeing them as tools of perspective.
The personal passive focuses on the person or thing being talked about by making them the subject of the sentence. It uses an ( to do, to have done, to be doing , etc.) to complete the thought. Formula: Subject + Passive Verb + Infinitive Structure Example: Jackson is said to steal cars. The 4 Infinitive Transformations (Crucial for Exercises)
g., intermediate vs. advanced), or perhaps focus more on a specific tense like past or future?
21–25: Fill blanks (passive) 21. The movie ______ (direct) by Spielberg. 22. The letters ______ (send) yesterday. 23. New policies ______ (implement) next month. 24. This book ______ (translate) into Spanish. 25. The results ______ (announce) tomorrow. personal impersonal passive exercises pdf
People say that the new CEO works 14 hours a day.
You can also use the passive voice with modal verbs ( can, could, will, would, should, must, may, might ). The structure is: .
The takes a different approach. Instead of promoting the object, it uses the dummy subject "it" at the beginning of the sentence. This structure is particularly useful when you want to report an opinion or piece of information without stating who the source is. It follows this formula: For the next hour, the trio worked through the PDF
Structure: Subject + Passive Reporting Verb + to-infinitive. 2. Quick Practice Exercise
Test your skills with these five practice questions before downloading the full PDF.
People believe that the company will launch a new product next month. The personal passive focuses on the person or
Active: Journalists report that the company is launching a new product.
While both structures are grammatically correct, personal passive is generally more common and natural in English. However, using impersonal passive ("It is said that...") is perfectly acceptable, especially when you want to sound more objective or detached from the statement.
The personal passive is a variation used to focus on a specific subject involved in the reported action, rather than just the general rumor. It is often preferred in English over the impersonal passive because it creates a more direct sentence structure. + Passive Verb + To-Infinitive Impersonal: It is said that she lives in Paris. Personal Passive: She is said to live in Paris. Impersonal: It is believed that he stole the money. Personal Passive: He is believed to have stolen the money. Key Rules for Personal Passive
Use this when the second action is ongoing at the time of reporting. It is reported that they are building a new stadium. →right arrow
The personal passive requires a full infinitive with to . Never write "He is said live here."